Early this afternoon, my wife and I took a brief walk at South Platte Park. While most of the lakes and pools remain frozen over, the river is open and Redtail Lake, which connects with that stream, was only half ice-covered. Northern shovelers have long favored the lake during the winter months and, under the current circumstances, their congregation was spectacular today.
Joined by a few dozen buffleheads, there were at least 550 shovelers on Redtail Lake (a bit high for eBird's algorithm). More than half were resting along the edge of the ice while other flocks were spinning in the shallows, stirring up food from the lake bottom.
After breeding throughout the pothole landscapes of northwestern North America, northern shovelers winter across the southern and western U.S. While a large number usually winter along the Colorado Front Range, today's gathering was truly a spectacle, attracting birders and walkers alike.
